why is final cut 7 pro exporting my clips 3 seconds ahead of where they are on the timeline?

Over the past few weeks I've had many difficulties exporting my completed timeline. When converted to quicktime file many "ghost clips" from one specific video source pop up out of sync. In fact 3 secs. out of sync. The original source video is from a mini DV tape which was recorded on a canon xl2. When using the capture now feature i noticed several dropped frames. Seeing as I needed this footage for this wedding video I continued. this caused the audio to be very out of sync.After resyncing it all manually. I finished only to discover that the footage when exported didn't match what was on the timeline. I've tried deleting the render batch to changing the preferences. I tried to trash my prefs but the com.apple.finalcutpro.plist file wasn't located on my comp. Please for all that is holy tell me there is a way to fix this!